


The Moments In Between: A Moment of Faith

by BattleScarredRaven



Series: The Moments In Between [5]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Guardian Pregnancy, Pregnancy, Re-Imagined Lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28291401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BattleScarredRaven/pseuds/BattleScarredRaven
Summary: They might have lost many friends over the years, and would no doubt lose many more in the times to come, but they still had had each other, and faith in one another.AKA my take on the "They're not coming" weblore (that I'm never going to be over ever) in the context of the Ikora/Zavala verse I've created.Takes place afterChapter 8 ('Names') of 'Blessings of the Traveler.
Relationships: Ikora Rey/Zavala
Series: The Moments In Between [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023943
Kudos: 3





	The Moments In Between: A Moment of Faith

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by ["They're not coming."](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/730878) by Destiny Dev Team. 



> As soon as "They're not coming" was released, I knew right then I wanted to do a re-imagining of that lore in the context of the verse I have created. After the latest weblore release, I decided to churn this out.
> 
> I don't normally release my writing so hot off the presses (Blessings of the Traveler had been written for literal months before I fully let it loose on the world, for example) but I really, really like how this turned out.

**_“_ ** **_The Traveler brought us all back for a reason. I truly believe that, with every fiber of my being.”_ **

**_“You say that like neither of us experienced the tyranny of the Warlords.”_ **

**_“A terrible mistake - most of them - but a necessary one. Without cruelty, people like the Iron Lords - like us - wouldn’t have stood up against them. We wouldn’t have rallied humanity together under our protection. None of us would be where we are today.”_ **

**_“Truthfully, I’m starting to think the Traveler had no plan for me at all when it brought me back.”_ **

**_“Maybe you’ve yet to find your true calling. Maybe you are already living it. Or perhaps… it is already in front of you, and it is up to you to take the first step.”_ **

**_“I… I believe I already have. Stronger together, as you say. All three of us.”_ **

\- Ikora Rey and Commander Zavala.

* * *

_“They’re not coming.”_

_They had been standing in silence in Zavala’s office for what seemed like an age. The aforementioned Commander, back to the room, staring out of the ceiling-to-floor window into the night, to the lights of the City below them and the broken Traveler looming above, still maddeningly inert. The purple robed Warlock hovering behind him as she spoke the words he didn’t want to hear; close enough for Zavala to know she’s there by her reflection looming in the window, but not close enough that he is able to make out her expression in the grubby pane of glass. From her disappointed tone, the hint of finality in her voice, he imagined a deep frown crossing Ikora’s dark features. Perhaps even a hint of sadness in those honey brown eyes. But he didn’t know for certain._

_“I know,” his reply was slow in coming, and quiet. Normally, he was stoic. Unflinching in resolve. But those three words had more weight spoken out loud than he realised, despite the fact he had been mentally telling himself the same thing over and over for the past few days. The storm of emotion in his office was almost suffocating. For a moment, he was envious of the people in the City below, living in blissful ignorance of the tumultuous turmoil above them._

_He almost missed it when Ikora’s reflection approached him, a comforting hand seeking his shoulder. Even as he watched it in the glass, Zavala still found himself surprised when he actually felt the weight of it settle there, squeezing in gentle reassurance._

_He cleared his throat before continuing to confide in the Warlock in the same quiet voice he had originally answered her with. “I… I want to commend them for their bravery. But… I’d rather they be here to berate them for their foolishness.”_

_Zavala felt the hand on his shoulder squeeze again before he heard the fabric of Ikora’s robes shuffle as she motioned to stand next to him by the window, joining him in staring out at the metropolis they were sworn to protect. In the corner of the Titan’s eye, he watched as the hand that had previously been on his shoulder fell wordlessly to the swell of her ever growing midsection, gently cradling both it and their precious treasure nestled within, oblivious to the turmoils and troubles of its parents outside._

_“I remember when you and I felt invincible. When our Ghosts felt invincible. When we could lay the foundation for the future with our bare hands.” Ikora’s eyes didn’t even spare him a glance as she spoke once more, opting to focus on the debris orbiting the Traveler instead. Her voice was soft, almost fond, but with undercurrents of an edge to it, made more and more evident as she continued on. “But now… it’s different. The list of names to memorialise gets longer by the day. We’ve…” she paused. Swallowed for a moment, head dipped slightly with a lingering sadness that they both knew would never quite leave. “We’ve said goodbye to too many friends over the years.”_

_That they had, though in Zavala’s eyes, even one friend was too many. They’d also had some come back - and here, he thought of Saint-14, feeding his pigeons down in the hangar - but it wasn’t enough. Compared to what they had lost, what they were about to lose, it was never enough. Even_ **_with_ ** _the return of some of the lost, and the acquisition of newfound allies..._

_“And who is left to join us now…_ **_Rasputin_ ** _? To think that I welcomed him in-” he cut himself off, abruptly turning his back on the City, on the Traveler, to glare at the data pads strewn across his desk, his jaw clenched, “-only to find out_ **_he_ ** _betrayed the Iron Lords all those years ago. And then there is Mithrax and his so-called House of Light. I know Dallas has worked with him before, and both she and Siraax say he has nothing but good intentions towards the City, but…” The Commander’s glowing blue eyes hardened even further. “Are we_ **_that_ ** _desperate that we’re willing to accept mass_ **_murderers_ ** _-”_

_The once mighty Titan Vanguard collapsed into the chair by his desk with a heavy sigh, the burden of leadership too much for him to bear just this once. He rested his hand on his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut, weary. He was glad only Ikora was here to see him in this moment of vulnerability._

_“Zavala.” The Warlock’s voice was stern when she next addressed him, following him slowly to his desk, though there was concern there, too. She curled her fingers gently against her palms, choosing her next words carefully. “Stronger together, remember? We aren’t abandoning_ **_anyone_ ** _now.”_

_To anyone else, her words might have sounded confident, but Zavala had known Ikora well over a century at this point and he was quick to pick up the faint quaver in her voice. He looked up, his eyes meeting hers with a neutral expression even though he knew the Warlock would be able to see past his stoic facade. His gaze followed her as she motioned to sit on the corner of his desk, folding her hands in her lap just beneath her heavily swollen belly._

_“You know, they’d all be lost without you.”_

_Zavala remained silent, though he agreed with this truth, even if at times it didn’t always feel that way. Ikora must have sensed that he concurred with her, for she continued on._

_“_ **_I_ ** _would be lost without you.”_

_It was the second statement, spoken so openly and honestly, that caught the Commander off-guard. He opened his mouth to protest this, but Ikora carried on over him, unrelenting._

_“Out there,” she gestured with one hand towards the window and the City beyond for a moment, following the line of the inky black horizon perfectly, “thousands of people look to_ **_us_ ** _as a sign of hope. We_ **_need_ ** _that.” Her gaze and hand both fell to her gravid belly, gloved fingers tracing the curve of it lightly. “_ **_Everybody_ ** _does.”_

_“It feels like I’m lying to them.” Zavala finally interrupted her, his unspoken protest from before working itself loose at last. “To_ **_everyone_ ** _. The Darkness is here! We’re facing the end of all things, and I…” his eyes squeezed shut momentarily once again, his expression a grimace of pain, “I feel…_ **_helpless_ ** _.”_

_To his surprise, Ikora shook her head, and her hand was on his shoulder once again, gripping with that comforting tightness once more. His gaze lingered on her hand, mildly startled by the strength there, before moving up to her face, though her eyes were already fixed on the window again by the time he tried to meet them._

_“Maybe we are.”_

_Such a blunt statement from anyone else might have caused Zavala to question them at best, or recoil at worst, but the Commander had long learned that Warlocks rarely made such controversial statements without reason. Ikora, doubly so. So he waited in patient anticipation for a continuation._

_Thankfully, she did not keep him waiting long. “Even so, helpless doesn’t mean_ **_hopeless_ ** _. We… we forget that sometimes, and instead of embracing our faith in moments like this, we often turn against it out of fear and doubt.”_

_Ikora didn’t blink for a long while after that, lost in memory for a time. When she did eventually blink her eyes once again, Zavala already knew what she would say, for he was thinking similar things himself in the context of his own experiences during the Red War._

_Still, he let her continue. “When I found my own faith diminished, I… I_ **_exiled_ ** _myself to Io. I questioned_ **_everything_ ** _._ **_Including_ ** _the Traveler.” She shot him a knowing look, a look he returned for a moment._

_But_ **_only_ ** _for a moment. They both knew how that chapter of their lives had ended: the City reclaimed, their Light restored, the Traveler, awake. But since then, nothing. Even now, with Darkness pressing at them from all sides, it still refused to act!_

_Anger welled inside Zavala then, his own fortitude unable to stop the tsunami of fury that crashed upon him, compelling the normally calm Titan to slam his fist into his desk, teeth bared. The smell of ozone and singed wood filled the office._

_“What has the Traveler ever done for us?!”_

_Ikora’s hand pulled away from his shoulder at his unexpected outburst. She… she didn’t quite_ **_flinch_ ** _, but as she searched his face with her eyes and the wave of anger receded from Zavala, he quickly realised how incredibly close he had come to making her do so. His heart sank when she rose from the corner of the desk and motioned back to the window, all but confirming - in his mind at least - that he had hurt the Warlock more than she was letting on._

_“I’m… I’m sorry.” He mumbled after her, a guilty expression etched across his pale blue face. He couldn’t quite bring himself to look at his fellow Vanguard, not yet._

_“It’s… it’s alright.”_

_Her reply, when it came, was soft and full of understanding. If Ikora hadn’t been the one saying it, Zavala might have dismissed her words as mere platitudes designed to ease his tension. But she had once been similarly angry at him after Cayde’s death; if anyone knew how he felt right now, it was the woman before him. So he would allow the Warlock to forgive him this once, even if he felt like he didn’t deserve it._

_“If nothing else,” she eventually continued, even softer now, causing Zavala to finally look her way, watching as her gaze lingered upon the shattered white sphere looming above the City once more, “the Traveler did_ **_one_ ** _thing right by us.”_

_The Awoken Titan blinked, taken aback by Ikora’s sudden candor. It took his mind a good minute to put the words he needed together in order to respond back to his old friend and partner._

_“Oh?” He rose from his chair, head tilted, eyebrow raised questioningly even though he knew she couldn’t entirely see him. “And what was that?”_

_Ikora’s eyes drifted down to watch Zavala’s reflection in the glass briefly, little more than two glowing eyes framed by a dark silhouette. He watched her own reflection as she smiled, and for the first time in a while, he saw a moment of peace and relief in her expression. A moment of faith. A moment of truth._

_She half-turned to Zavala then, her head completing the rest of the motion towards him that her body did not, and her smile hit him full force, washing the last of his lingering doubts away. Her left hand delicately cradled her pregnant bump underneath her purple robes, and the gaze of her honey-coloured eyes was strong, motherly, warm, but not without a hint of vulnerability that Ikora would only ever dare show around him. He felt honoured - and humbled - whenever she did it, for it was not a side she displayed often, just as he himself did not to her._

_“It… it brought us both together.” She answered him after the barest of pauses in a proud whisper, the light from the City and the Traveler framing her gravid form like she was a phoenix rising up from ashes._

_The Titan Vanguard felt himself break with those words, by the wondrous sight of her before him, in that moment. He crossed over to Ikora in two strides, cupping her cheeks and jaw and sweeping her away with a kiss that left them both breathless afterwards. He pressed his forehead tenderly to hers, wary of his strength, and let one hand snake around Ikora’s waist while the other came to a rest next to hers on her rounded swell._

_“No.” Zavala murmured softly in return, pale lips pressing another kiss to the dark skin of her cheek. “It brought all_ **_three_ ** _of us together.”_

_He felt Ikora’s smile broaden, and she pulled in as close to his side as his armour would allow, head nestled into his exposed neck. Above them, the Traveler illuminated them both with a soft halo of light where it had previously lit Ikora in stunning radiance and, beneath their hands, their child kicked gently, a reminder of the many things they fought for. They remained that way in the comfort of each other’s arms for a long, long time, watching the City below them like the Guardians they were until all lights winked out for the night and they both shut their eyes._

_Truly, it was a moment of peace. A moment of solidarity. A moment of faith._

_Faith in the Light._ _In the Traveler. In the life_ **_they_ ** _had created._

_In_ **_each other_** _._


End file.
